Le Mirage Mystique - Review

They had me in the first half NGL...

Developer/publisher: Licobits.

Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://licobits-game.com/mirage/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v58562

Release date: 17-9-26.

 

Alright since no other otome interested me besides Sullyland I decided

to get this anyways. Since there aren't any games I felt like I should play.

 

Disclaimer: This is purely my own opinion and it could be different from yours

this is not meant to be some kind of all-truth, just an opinion that came from playing this.

If you don't like what you're reading then close the tab, move on and just idk play it yourself.

 

Pro's

- Setting and Characters.

- The story was in most routes interesting suiting the LI. 

- Gorgeous art and fitting music.

 

Grey area.

- Can feel a bit all over the place. 

 

Con's

- Some routes have potential for more bad ends than there actually are.

- The last 20-30 minutes of Evan's route.

- Can be very short if you're a fast reader and don't take your time. 

 

 

Heroine:

Aria Laprade is an honest to good girl, I admire her courage to investigate on her own!

other than that when she first arrived on the island she striked me as what huh?! image related.

This specifically applies to the ending of Evan route as well.

I mean if I was her I too would have several question marked upon being invited to the island. 

I'd say she's fine, I wish she had a sprite in the corner though.

I would give her the you tried award since, while she isn't physically strong she is mentally

but she is rather meek. She often needs protection. I think that is fine but when I look at

the setting I expected more, she doesn't compare to Mavis but when she slayed she slay'd.

She's capable of taking the lead and be curious but the narrative didn't allow for much more.

Its pretty inconsistent how she developed which depended on the route. 

Leon was right about one thing and she really should be a little bit more selfish. 

 

Art is gorgeous as always, BGM was pleasant but not many wowed me.

I particularly liked the track at the start of Jack's route!

The OP movie is great, though there were a few times I skipped it upon startup.

 

System wise its a standard VN however there is no correct choice indicator aka love catch.

From my first demo play I actually landed on Rudy's route.

I decided to redo and I landed on Charles. I could sorta figure which

choice let to this... and I messed around again and finally triggered Jack.

Honestly it felt rather random in how a route triggered, the LI would suddenly speak up

and things branched off into their route. I didn't experiment further and just went with Jack.

Honestly speaking without a guide its difficult to go for who you want

but in this game it is kinda rewarding to figure out the path on your own. 

Massive respect for guide makers for this game or any without ''love catch'' systems.

A guide is still recommended for a smooth experience of the story. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

 

Overall I found the ''plot'' to be all over the place and depending on which

starter route you land on your experience will be different.

It is a mystery oriented otome game and each routes tackles different subjects

suited to the LI's and they all had different things going on. It all does tie into

the overall plot in their own way so I found it rewarding to keep at it.

Early routes don't reveal too much which is fine, with most I was satisfied for what it offered. 

Just doing one route makes this game rather short but fully completing it takes around 35 hours.

The chapter length reminded me of OlySoi and each LI had 8 chapters in total.

Nothing felt like it dragged and I wanted to keep playing like I had some sort of addiction.

My first play was around 8 hours. So its not that long and I thought it was paced well.

I think if you're a fast reader it may be even shorter... so mine is just an average. 

I let the voices play and generally had a normal pace while digesting incoming info. 

There aren't a lot of bad ends either each route had only two endings which I thought

was disappointing, some routes do have game over ends but not all of them.

As its a plot-oriented otome, the romance developed alongside it which was okay.

At most I'd describe the romance as cute. Some routes had it better than others

which is in-line with most Licobits titles. In terms of LI's Rudy's the biggest surprise!

didn't expect to like him as much as I did. Charles reminded me of Ikki from Amnesia

for some reason but no one was that awful. I'd say Jack had a good route...

if you don't know anything but Rudy topped it easily.😍

Evan's route started alright its here the story slowly shows its full potential but...

it shat in its own pants in the last 20-30 minutes, it just crashed and burned.😞

I won't burn this otome at the stake for it  but it did prevent me from rating it highly.

I'd prolly give it 3.5 stars on amazon.

As someone that liked him I am going  to be a little selfish and let it affect my rating! 

7.3/10 

TL;DR I'd say it was pretty good but I found it rough around the edges.

The good part was that I couldn't help but come back for more and explore

other angles even if one of those angles was to be desired, not gonna lie

it felt like they were playing favorites too much.😒

 

 

IDK if this game will get localized but I figure it will have a different name

because whenever I looked it up I get stuff about perfume or hotel/cafe's.💀

It probably has a decent chance but I can't be certain. 

 

The JP language level is intermediate, due to high amount of monologues

and unvoiced text I can't recommend it for beginners. It should be fine

for anyone with a solid grasp and want to test out their japanese. 

 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Play Order:

Jack >Rudy >Charles> Evan > Leon.

 

Recommended order:

Charles / Jack > Rudy > Evan > Leon.

The first three routes have no restrictions and I don't think it matters too much

but I think if you did Rudy too soon it may turn into a bottleneck.

 

Charles: Starts out light and flimsy but has surprising depth to it.

Jack: This route is very mystery oriented with some heavy undertones

but it doesn't go too deep into anything so its alright as a starter.

Rudy: Rudy's good for when you want to better understand what is going on.

Despite exposition dumps I found it surprisingly well-rounded in terms of plot&romance.

Evan: Unlocks after the initial three routes.

Leon: Unlocks after Evan so no choice but to do him last.

 

Route babbles after the jump, there are spoilers so be warned!

so if you don't want any then stop reading here. Its just senile grandma rambles. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Le Mirage Mystique - Demo Review

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Licobits.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://licobits-game.com/mirage/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v58562

Release date: 16-07-2026(Demo) 17-9-26(Full game)

 

I didn't even realize Le Mirage Mystique got a demo till

I looked at the official site for more info and noticed there was one.

Honestly outside of the setting and goldie seiyuu cast this otome game

didn't quite catch my eye. So this demo was welcomed.

 

--- 

 

Le Mirage Mystique is a mystery driven otome game set in 1917.

The heroine Aria Laprade receives an invitation to an island.

What will she uncover there...? one thing is for sure

she meets a bunch of lovely young men there.😅

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 The art is lovely and the introduction movie was quite unique.

The background art stood out to me more than the character sprites. 💀

Sadly the heroine had no sprite maybe from another POV? but the demo

wasn't long enough for that to happen so I can't confirm this. 

Music was fitting for the setting, I had no complaints but it didn't exactly wow me.

The seiyuu cast of this game are all goldies and if you played a lot of otome

in the PSVita era you will definitely hear some familiar voices.

Le Mirage Mystique could be worth looking into if your favorite seiyuu is here.

System wise its pretty much a standard VN, which is fine.

The font was a bit tiny on default but this can be adjusted.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Storywise it seems interesting but it felt very slow-paced

and it took a while for even the heroine to find her bearings.

The presentation felt similar to Piofiore, they also loved to give it

this old movie vibe & switch POV. I wasn't sure if any of the

characters be it main or side could be trusted at all.

I don't think they were part of the mafia though... but some looked wealthy. 

Serge explained a bunch of facts to us about the island

but even then I could tell there was more to it.

Most of what the demo covered was dedicated to introduction

and there were quite a number of side characters.

Some of it was intriguing but it was nothing wild.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd probably recommend to play this blind even if only for the first play

and only use a guide if you don't know how to get the best end.

 --- 

In terms of language difficulty i'd say it was on the same level as Uchronia

so its probably better if you have a very solid grasp of the japanese language.

If you rely a lot on voiced lines or like to vibe on autoplay you will likely

be overwhelmed here because of unvoiced narration and monologues.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

TL;DR

Honestly I think it might be nice if you enjoy slower paced otome? the backgrounds

were lovely though but my investment into the LI's was quite low.

I tried to write about them after the jump but not much came of it... 

I think Evan interested me the most but that may be because Okamoto-san.

Evan's seiyuu really selling this game for me.😅

Other than that I suppose Leon did interest me too but I could smell

he was some kind of revelation route or something. Blame the OP.

I'd probably not recommend Le Mirage Mystique if you prefer fast paced otome

because everything told me this was going to be another slowburn.

Though if you enjoy that I recommend it by all means.

Maybe try the demo for a vibe check if you still can't decide!

 

Some more rambles after the jump but its not much really. 

 

===================================================================== 

Yakuza 4 Remastered - Review

The Yakuza FOUR.

 Genre: Brawler/adventure.

Developer/publisher: Sega.
Platform: PS4.
Official Site: N/A.

Release date: 29-10-2019.

 

Alright, its time to get started on the next Yakuza game which is 4!

This game stars 4 different protagonists so it not just Kiryu anymore

as he is being joined by 3 more lads or like a dragons.

 

Also if you're wondering how I finsihed this game so fast, that's cuz 1; Yakuza games

aren't that long to begin with. 2; i'm not out to be a completionist so I can clear them within

reasonable amount of time. 3; I actually started this while on Eli/Finn's route in honey vibes.

 

Pro's

- Decent story, and good pacing.

- The four main characters were all great.

- Substories were fun, as well as the dialogue.

 

Con's

- No way to pause during cutscenes/fmv's.

- Certain aspects during Saejima's part such as a certain boss.

- NPC's could have used a remaster treatment as well...

Story is a direct sequel to 3 but trouble brews again in the underworld

and some people get to the bottom of it, Kiryu gets involved as well.

Due to that this game is incredibly hard to recommend to start with as it just builds on too much

that is already established. TBH just go at your own pace and if you're here for the main

story + some substories, it shouldn't be taking someone that long to begin with.

Moving on: This game does not start with Kiryu however, it starts with a guy 

named Shun Akiyama and you won't be playing as the same guy for too long

unless you really are going to complete every substory as they drop.

Akiyama was being real right from the start and he's never going to get more real.

Rather than switching through characters like in Yakuza 0 you stick with one character

till his part is finished before moving to the next chapter featuring another.

I quite liked this since it kept stuff consistent, sadly if you don't do substories

the chapters can at times feel hilariously short and at times there's not even a moment

to do them, thankfully you can do them in the final chapter

where you can switch to whoever you fancy at will.

At first I thought there was a decent amount of voiced scenes but it seems

the amount of scenes that're unvoiced increased as the game went on. 

So it pretty much like a trails game where there's some occasional important

cutscene with voice and the rest is... unvoiced till its time to up the budget with an fmv.

Moving on to better points; the encounter rate wasn't as high as Y3 and thus I didn't

fight as many punks on the streets which was honestly a relief. Enemies still block

but battles didn't feel nearly as drawn out as in Y3 which is all a plus in my book.

Revelations are also back but I didn't do them all, this time it was easy to overlook them

and you didn't always get a notication when they popped up but I got most of them

for Shun, Tanimura and one for Saejima in the finale.

Everyone also did a unique pose and way to remember it, Shun was like Kiryu

but Tanimura used his notebook and fucking Saejima just carved some wood.

  I actually liked that Kiryu seemed to remember his revelation moves from Yakuza 3

and he really is like a big guy now who's stronger than most. He only

 got two because of it while the others get like 4 or so.

For a PS3 game it all looked pretty great to me, I wasn't even hard

on Y3's graphics to begin with but its all a step into a better direction.

I did think the the graphic model of main characters vs npc's was a bit jarring

like npc's look like hobo as their outfits are lowpoly while the mc's look like kings.

---Hotspring. No better screenshot than to illustrate the hobo npc design even Hana looks better

 

In regards to gambling minigames.

Substories: The first one I did was quite a lengthy one, not a quick&dirty

over in 5 minutes but literally 20minutes of teaching some guy how to run

a business and sometimes you gotta downsize. It was an experience indeed, sadly

it had a lot of sequels so I was kinda tired of that one by the time it was finally over.

Anyway most were good and made me laugh at some of the funny dialogue

sure there's a few that overstayed there welcome or just boring ones but I can't complain.

Tanimura: Record scratch *freeze frame* how did I get into this situation?!

More ramblings after the jump, there's not really any plot spoilers.

   --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 I gotta say I liked Shun Akiyama, idk if he's popular but wouldn't be surprised if he was.

I was pretty much hooked to the story right from the first chapter as well

and the scene direction/graphics all are a step up from Yakuza 3.

Looking back at this scene now I am hurt man....

I had no issue's with the pacing as well, sadly there's no way to pause during

cutscenes still which is really the only downside I noticed within an hour of play.

Shun is all kicks and no punches I kinda laughed at this cuz back in Y2kiwami

all I did was run around kicking and screaming but his style is actually really nice

and didn't feel barebones, Shun's a professional kickboxer. My only real complaint

about Shun is that he smokes too much like damn he's a walking fumigator.

Did they really start a chapter with a fucking meme?!

For Shun's part, I didn't dislike the story being told, there were obvious

hints at there being more to it, him as a character was quite interesting as well.

Kiryu took a while to grow on me like multiple games but Shun did it with one game.😅

The ending of the game also made me ship Akiyama with Hana-chan a bit more

but it seems they're going for the comedic aspect of it, still better than nothing! 

Also I liked the one substory where she told him he had 30min's to find a guy

who liked girls like her. It was a bit of a hassly but definitely one of the better ones.

In premium adventure aka a mode where you can free roam and play as whichever

guy you want and do substories/minigames or completionist stuff I noticed that a lot

of Shun's substories are all crammed into his office so god forbid you wanted to do

substory B but then you trigger A or C instead cuz they all started or reconvened there.

Everything just stacks on top of each other in one zone till you do it which is actually

very reflective of the state of his office, yea just dropping that in here.

ANYWAYS while I do like Shun, finishing some more substories

with him made me realize I don't like him that much, he's cool but often

seems to know everything a little too well like he already has it figured all out

but since his heart is in the right place ends up doing more good than bad.

That's likely why he's so likable and I can't hate the guy, so don't get me wrong.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Taiga Seajima: Unfortunately this is where it took a slight nose dive in terms of enjoyment.

The initial cutscenes started with a bang but then it was just so long before you could save

because it turned into a movie. It also took me 5 to realize Hamazaki was our buddy here

and oh man this guy well okay he definitely redeemed himself a little! LMAO.

Anyway it seems the dev's really liked that one show called prison break huh?!

that part actually sucked donkey balls cuz early game Saejima is pretty weak

but gets better with upgrades, Saito was such a shitty boss and way overtuned making

the whole segment unfun cuz you couldn't even take a break inbetween.

So you had to have an hour or two to play through it comfortably. I lost count of how much

you had to fight Saito, I'm sure it was 3 times no 4 if we count dodging a sniper.

Then the second Saejima chapter is essentially a giant cutscene with 1 boss fight

so uh yea we almost had another chapter 9 the plot except without infodumping.

LMAO holy shit, Saejima's segment was just such a disaster and definitely one of those

parts of a game you never want to go through ever again, so replays never work out.

His story isn't necessarily terribly written but... its just a pain to play through it.

This substory was funny atleast too bad I couldn't finish it till the finale

which I did while stocking up on potions for him.😔

Kitten's were a sight of comfort really... who wouldn't save them?!

I could have named them Kiryu and Majima but eh... I like other characters too.

I'm joking but yea these screens below go hilariously well without context.

At the end of day I actually felt bad for Saejima and Y4 may have been

his game but he couldn't do it alone and he wasn't alone he made allies and friends

which considering everything that happened is what tugs my heartstrings a little.

Edit: I actually finished like all of his substories in premium adventure

and gotta say his were pretty good, brother and sister was a bit long but

liked it more than the Shiobara stuff. Also that green thing... bothers me.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Masayoshi Tanimura: This guy I had my eyes on ever since he briefly popped in

during Shun's story cuz what a hot stud. His voice actor was changed to Toshiki Masuda

due to some scandal, someone I haven't heard in quite a while too which was nice.

I liked his rough OWARI DA whenever you successfully completed a chase

and well his voice did suit Tanimura so IMO they did not choose the wrong seiyuu.

Tanimura is a rather bad cop who goes and play mahjong on duty LMAO.

I loved his character because he is extremely self aware, also he's not that bad since there

were times he knows how to do his job. Tanimura walks the line of the grey area

with almost perfect balance. He's such a bad boy and he knows it!

Wtf was that substory man... felt like an episode out of a tv show.

I also did more substories during his part than Akiyama or Saejima combined.

Also you think Tanimura is a bad cop, its hilarious how much of a good boi he is

to what was revealed in his story like oh man... where do I start?

Alright.

 Tanimura was a character that was just a delight to see, makes you realize that while not all

cops are good even the ones that slide slightly into darkness still have light within them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kiryu... well it is been four games so its only natural he had to wait for his turn

and watch 3 chapters go by for once. Grandpa Kiryu: Its been 48 years...

I thought that his story was the shortest by far but then again I did not stop to do any

substories and just trucked through sadly this meant Kiryu's part 4 was a little harder.

But eh its okay I welcome a lil challenge & you get enough exp during it, just

make sure to buy some healing pot's and you're good to go! I did do some of

Kiryu's substories in the finale, some were funny like the curry adventure & tubby guy

the former was actually annoying because I was like what if it just goes cold on the way back?

so I just rushed over there as fast as I could like Kiryu's ass was on fire.

Also the fake kiryu was around again and all I can say is hope he learned this time!

Okay my dude...

The  dialogue really was selfaware in this game... holy shit.

---

OMG all I did was some substories and stock up on potions and this scene

happened when I got back to new serena...

NGL it caught me off guard but it was funny as heck cuz everyone reacted

in their own way and Kiryu is just as stoic as ever and just gently carried on.

Unfortunately Kiryu really was just a side character in this game

but it was nice to have him back and that he still retained his skills

like he was the only one that already had skills unlocked.

I can see why some people are disappointed Kiryu did not do much

but let's be real he did take a backseat but still affected things and stepped in accordingly

and after three games (4 if we include 0) its only a good thing this happened.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Also got my ass beaten at pingpong when I randomly visited that hotspring place

due to thinking I had to go in there from the police radio jitter Tanimura gets.

But eh is it really an L if you get headpatted after a loss? 

Awww...

---

Final thoughts

WTF why was this game such a goldmine?!

 Well I think I may have found another favorite yakuza game!

maybe it was because of the many perspectives but the characters, pacing

and overall plot was pretty engaging and I was hooked.

The twist was fun this time and I chuckled a bit, its honestly amazing

how they used what they had written as a foundation to craft Yakuza 4's story.

Sure I didn't like Saejima's part as much but I didn't dislike him as a character and

at first I was indifferent towards him but by the end of his part I liked him.

Akiyama was also pretty fun! as was Tanimura he made me caw at the audicity he has.

Tanimura's final fight was not fun at all it was the hardest

for stupid reasons, with ball's out kido being the easiest atleast for me.

Tanimura's probably my favourite char out of all of them and Shun's a close second

like they both had really great lines, comedy gold both mainstory and sub.

Yakuza politics this time felt minimal which is maybe why I enjoyed it as much as I did

even tho some scenes were long there were no long infodumps. All was paced well.

The only thing I didn't understand was the post credit scene, it seems like a hook for Y5...

also while this game concluded itself decently enough it didn't do it as good as Y2.

Yea you got to name it and I chose Rikiya, may he become a true viper.

 Also I really liked the way you level up in this game, it adds more of an RPG feel to it

as well as oh yea can go learn new skills now only to realize you are still missing an orb or two.

Substories were more quality rather than quantity this time and added a bit more perspective

to things and aren't just quick&dirty weird stuff going on. There's still funny ones but it seems

they're becoming side stories now with the amount of text. Despite some gripes almost

everything about this game was great and I generally had a good time with it!

8.5/10

Anyway the addition of other perspectives prevented it from getting stale after 3 games with

just Kiryu, speaking of he did feel like a supporting character at first but its nice to see

the baton being passed to others. Also when Kiryu had his appearances it was always great.

 

I'm definitely up for the sequel some day but not anytime soon, I need a breather.

I also found out Y5 is one of the longer games surpassing 0 in length, maybe later!

most games so far have been 20 hours at best and I do really like how RGG studios

is able to tell a story within that time and keep adding to it in meaningful ways.

Like I can just boot this game up in the evening, play a little and just enjoy the chara's & story.

 

I'll see what other games I still want to play but all in good time, as much as I liked

how I just casually started this game I don't want to do this a lot.

2-11-24 edit: Added few more screenshots and fix some minor things.

9 R.I.P - Review

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/9rip/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v38068
Release date: 2023-06-29.

 

Otomate's latest visual novel! I didn't get started on it right away because

I was busy with FF16 but I still wanted to give this game a shot since it seemed interesting

and they brought back some golden-era seiyuu's I hadn't heard in a while. Oh boy! they

got me nostalgic for Kakki, KENN, Nobuhiko and Shinnosuke Tachibana alright!

I am not too familiar with Azakami or Shun'ichi though but it is always good

to see otomate try to use less popular seiyuus. Other than that I went in very blind

I didn't even know it was gonna be an occult mystery with suspense!

 

Game/story is presented as an occult mystery about people being spirited away...

The heroine Misa ends up hearing some scary stories/rumors and then she had a strange encounter

in the school hallway, she was also worried over her education when an accident happens...

Due to that Misa finds out crossed over to the spirit realm, most of the love interests

are spirits and such. I don't want to say too much so i'll stop her since its really better

if you don't know too much and can find it out on your own.

 

Pro's

- Story/character driven, good amount of suspense.

- Art, cg's are very well done.

- Music fits the mood and theme of the game.

- Short but it doesn't feel longer than it needs to be.

- Great heroine, she takes initiative.

 

Con's

 - 1 route has no epilogue cg's.💀

- High amount of bad ends.

The game can have a little bit of suspense too... but at times it can also be relaxing.

There was enough time to get to know the characters during the common route parts but who

you meet there depends on an early game choice, this was good since it kept each playthrough fresh.

Also it is best going into this game blind as knowing too much could ruin the suspense.

 

First thing I notice is that there are 8(9 if you count the final) routes, well this can

go both ways but I hoped this wouldn't be too long of a VN and it wasn't

the pacing was okay, it moved at a good pace and there was hardly a dull moment!

so I was happy it respects your time, maybe the love process was a little fast

and most characters are nice and easy to like. Of course there are exceptions

and certain characters could not be your cup of tea atleast that was me with Minami.

On the other hand my favorite was Koyou followed by Koharu, Sena and Yukimaro.

Due to characters being paired up and share a common route it makes the most sense

to do the other characters route/end right after. Also even if they shared a common route

they did infact have a individual route and it didn't feel like one character took up more time.

I was relieved at this since I was worried of there being too much shared plot.

 

The heroine Misa was great and good at taking some initiatives, I didn't find her annoying

and considering what she goes through... she handled it pretty well.

 

This game does have bad endings so if you want to avoid those or not in the mood

a guide is recommended. I do think the bad ends were still worth doing even if

they had no CG, as sometimes they gave little details or for better or worse

showed another side of a character. 

 

System was your standard stuff but in one route they had you input your characters

name and you could do it manually which threw the entire jpn dictionary at you. xD

Thankfully you could autofill Misa's name which begs the question... why even bother?

The bad end gotten if you fill it in wrong can be gotten through another choice too...

this was a really dumb design choice that makes 0 sense.

 

Art, looked really nice and before I played I was more positive about it

than I initially was about tsuitsui, so IDK if that says something other than its good.

The CG's were all well done, even if the amount was low its 7/8 there are variations

so i'm on the side of i'd rather most be of quality than half of them be looking off.

9rip also has 8 routes and one finale which is more than the usual 6 or 7 so I think

that says a lot and there's nothing wrong with it. Cg's are nice but it shouldn't be

the whole reason to buy a game, then you're better of buying an artbook!

Music was fine, I had no complaints and it fit the mood. ED themes change

depending which pair of love interests you go after which was nice. 

I think I can recommend 9rip if you don't want a visual novel that is on the long side

but still want something with an engaging plot, don't mind it being an occult mystery

that could test your nerves a little (its nothing too scary) and one or more characters interest you.

This was a very good life/death character drama type of otome game

the only real down side I can think of is the number of routes since by the time

I reached the final route I was kind of burned, thankfully it wasn't as long

as a certain character from Tsuitsui but it was still a nice finish even if it was short.

9/10

I can't ironically give this any less than a 9 because of a bunch of facts

and how refreshing each set of routes was, it balanced everything out nicely.

My play order:

Koyou > Sena  >  Kureha > Hibiki> Koharu > Yukimaro > Minami > Seiya >???.

 

Recommended play order:

It was hard to come up with a recommended order I think this works nicely:

[Kureha > Hibiki]  > [Koyou > Sena] > [Minami > Seiya] > [Koharu > Yukimaro] >???.

You could switch some pairs up due to preference but things to note is that

Koharu/Yukimaro is a bit of a healing route and had more fluff compared to others... it can

either be done after Kureha/Hibiki or after Minami/Seiya. Finally Kojou/Sena may be best

done before Minami/Seiya... it just works better in terms of story elements

same goes for making sure Koharu is done after Hibiki. Of course you could

change something due to preference, like even my own play order works out.

There's not much choice but to do ??? last as his only unlocks after doing all

anyway I hope this information was helpful in deciding a route order.

Character rambles and my fav cg's after the jump! the spoiler free zone ends here.

I should add that 9RIP is one of those visual novels that is best going in blind

as route summaries/thoughts etc could reveal too much.

So if you want to go in blind stop reading here cuz there will be spoilers!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

 

 

Majestic☆Majolical - review

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Dazkarat.

Platform: PC/Switch.

Official Site: http://dazkarat.jp/majemajo_sw/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v21895

Release date: 22/12/2022.

 

This originally was a segmented release much like taisho x alice on PC

but they have made an all in one switch port which collects them.

It took them like four years but it happened, and i'm actually kind of glad they did!

I never heard from this developer before but I was still excited to try out their game

maybe cuz it reminds me of wand of fortune if only a little! and with not much

new otome game releases I was like why not? why should I not support this game?

Also for the switch version there is a new route; Jasper Beryl so they have definitely tried

to make it worth to pick up the port if you hadn't played it before cuz there's something new.. 

The protagonist Lapis is an apprentice magician who is tasked dealing with some troublesome

humans and collect gems for science! by getting close to them. Regardless she remains optimistic

and tries her best! she also had a little spunk. She wasn't useless and could definitely hold her own!

 Though the part of collecting gems reminded me a little of Clamp's Kobato as well

but other than that the two series are not similar at all, just the bottle part.

Pro's

- A confident heroine atleast I found her to be so.

- Interesting characters in each volume that contrast each other well.

- Mostly light-hearted, doesn't shy away from bad ends.

- Amazing art and backgrounds, Music fit the mood.

Con's

- A bit on the short side...

- Playing it blind can be difficult because of not knowing how much or little gems are needed.

- NTR ends but really there were only two I consider being such.

 

The art style looked really cute and the backgrounds seemed pretty well done too.

I really loved the fantasy setting! is that the right way to describe it? hmm if I had to look

at the world design it reminded me of europe but not very modern.

The voice cast of this game had a lot of popular seiyuu that I went like OMG its Kaji Yuuki!

or Shimono Hiro as some of them I haven't heard in quite a while.

*If one of your fav seiyuu is in this game it could be worth a spin*

The pacing was alright, this vn wasn't slowpaced that it took hours for anything to happen

and I am really glad for that as otomate's VN's tired me out lately.

Nothing seemed to drag on for too long while still delivering cute moments etc.

This with some exceptions kept it light and fun! At times it did feel like it went a little fast but...

they were going to school and interacting like every day, falling in love can happen like this so its

not totally unbelievable. Honestly I found it heartwarming to see Lapis and Mitsuki grow closer...

 This game is more romance oriented, which is great if you're tired of games where

the romance is but an after thought! or get to dating right at the end.

 

System; There are four different endings and as well as a sort of petting minigame

this is how the protagonist is able to get gems; how many gems you get determine the end.

Its not annoying; especially if you use a guide telling you how much to pet the bishie

it might get a bit more difficult if you don't use a guide but hey if you're stuck they exist!

Playing it blind could be fun too! honestly after a bunch of otomate games

that only had happy and good ends, I very well prefer otome games or VN in general

that like actually make it so my choices can change what happens.

MajeMajo is one of those VN where depending on your choices things

could turn out a little different!

 

I did encounter a bug at the end of Ruu's route that caused my game to lag and crash

but with force skipping I managed to get to the ending... not sure why but it seems

that there is an extra graphical effect that just slows down the game to an extend it can

no longer function. I play on a switch lite so cannot tell if it is present on the other model...

but if it is, just force skip the text or wait out a patch? if there is any.

 

I thought it was great was how the guys of the volumes are different in contrast to each other.

MajeMajo can look a bit deceiving though like if you see the cover of the game

and think oh this looks like it'll be dark full of toxic love interests then i'm here to tell you

a flat out no its not like that at all, most of the game outside of  Shiki or Ruu's route was fairly light.

All of the characters did have their own set of problems yet this game is no diabolik lovers

but even then if you like to live dangerously those two routes exist.

I loved all the cg's! they were gorgeous. The music is like, at its best it adds to the vibe

and at its worst its just there. One may think this game is short but hmm is that a bad thing?

I think if you're tired of games that are long winded or just seem to keep going MajeMajo is

actually kind of nice because you get all the same things just that it knows to not let it drag on.

The love interests are diverse and you'd probably find someone that catches your eye or

are totally like oh hell no! despite it being short it was still fun to me.

Things to keep in mind is that MajeMajo focuses more on romance than its overall plot!

Vol1&2 are very character specific and its not untill vol.3 that it tries to focus on story and lore.

The addition of the Jasper route makes its story more well-rounded than its original PC release

you may as well ask why they didn't include it to begin with since it further

added to the picture+his character . So I think this switch port is pretty good

in value despite that 1 bug I encountered which is actually pretty game-breaking.😥

9/10

*Edit: Without the Jasper route it would be a 7/10 so I guess that shows...*

An enjoyable otome game that I will most likely remember for having extremely cute and heartwarming scenes as well as some whackos(not all of the guys are like that I swear!).

I could recommend this game if you have a good grip on your japanese!

as sadly it isn't out in english at the moment but that might change.

Since this game was segmented by volume I will be going by release order so my play order

will be like: Mitsuki > Shiki  > Shinnosuke > Shoutaro > Shell > Ruu > Jasper.

You can't do volume 3 till atleast one route is complete, Jasper unlocks after Ruu

but it is recommended to do Ruu later due to him having the most story spoilers.

So well there you have it! there's not too much choice due to how it works!

More character rambles after the jump! there will be spoilers + my fav cg's.

 

Shiro to Kuro no Alice Twilight Line - Review

Genre: Otome Visual Novel. 

Developer/publisher: Otomate.

Platform:PSV.

Official Site: http://www.otomate.jp/bw_alice/twilight/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v21786

Release date: 2018-11-15

Ah yes the FD- or sequel to that rather messy alice in wonderland otome game
from otomate, in case you wonder what I mean by messy again is that
the overall story was too scattered and there was no locked routes
so if you did Nello first you'd basically spoil a plot behind the scenes
or if you did Snow's then well you basically got the best possible resolution.
That doesn't mean the other routes aren't worth doing as it still would fill in the blanks
here and there regarding the characters. So in short when a story would benefit
from restriction they said nah let them pick! which could work if the important story bits
weren't all over the place, like I am sure no one likes getting to Minette mid game
only to find out it was better to do him first since he has nothing to do with the main plot.
Shiro to Kuro no Alice had a story albeit very messy and all over the place!
and even that did not change in its FD's additional scenario.

Pro's
 -After stories are short and sweet.
- Art and music are excellent.

Con's
- unvoiced heroines who still talk to each other as if it was voiced, which
like the original ruined a lot of potential in scenes everyone else is voiced.
- Story is still a scattered mess.

Content wise there is the after story's ~lover's day~ which gives us a look at their lives now
it covers both white and black happy ends... which is probably what you wanted the most.
Then there's another line... which is basically just an another story...
but with individual endings as well which is where most of the meat of the game is.
There's also the tea party after doing all which is a nice extra for full complete.

Either way I decided to start with Airi's side first mostly because she literally got stuck the worst boys
and Luna with the sweethearts, which made me not very interested in Airi's side.
After stories are like an hour long BUT there's one for each happy end (black and white)!
  so that's basically two hours... whether it was worth it depends on character like

for me Minette's were an utter waste of time but Nero was actually worth sitting through
so I guess it depends but even then I wish they put more effort.
Another line was eh... after 4 routes I got the general gist of the plot and had enough
and actually got sad we didn't get a routes for Rui, Ratt or Nine instead
like they give us new characters try and flesh em out but they don't really get resolution.
Volume wise its about right... if you rush its probably not but I thought the content was fine
and could definitely last a week or two if you take it slow but eh unless one was
invested in the world of shiro to kuro no alice I can't really recommend it
since this is for fans of course, I got what I wanted out of it thanks to Luna side
but still felt it was lacking in someway maybe because they had to split
the lover day scenario to the two happy ends which makes no sense if
the another line scenario also sort of follows up on the bw after???
IMO most of the white afters were the best to me so I wish they'd made it a little longer
even at the expense of the bw after but eh they still managed at making some of it
its just not going to be to everyones taste.
As we know Another line has the same problem as the original game
I am going to recommend Snow's route there for last as it has the most
revelations about Rui, the rest of the order shouldn't matter too much
so just to be safe do Airi side before Luna's with Snow last.

That ends my spoiler free section...

Taishou x Alice heads and tails - review

 Genre: Otome Visual Novel. 

Developer/publisher: Otomate.

Platform: PSV.

Official Site:

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v20277

Release date: 2017-12-07

FD of Taishou x alice... if I had to be really honest I didn't think TxA really needed a FD
why? I actually thought the epilogue chapter wrapped everything up nicely and everyone
got a small extension to their ending that aside it must've done well enough for them
to release this FD so why not just accept and try to enjoy whatever contents it has?
 Not much aside from the usual after stories, two new routes for Ryoushi and Ookami
but I heard beforehand they're not all that great since the bias for Alice is too great.
Then there's Gakuen Alice which might've been the last best thing this FD has to offer.😅
 There's not much else to say so let's just get on with it.

Pro's
- Gakuen Alice's a fun omake with mini route (except ookami/ryoushi)
- Art.

Con's
- Not every after story got the same amount of effort, i've only found
Akazukin, Gretel, Mauhoutsukai and Alice to be actually fun / worth it.
- The new routes aren't really 'new' at all nice if you want another perspective though.

I decided to play the after story in the same order as the original:
Cinderella > Akazukin > Gretel > Kaguya > Shirayuki > Mahoutsukai > Alice.
I do recommend saving Mahoutsukai for later preferable after Shirayuki, as Mahoutsukai
adds something that makes Shirayuki's seem like even that had its place.

The first two after stories I did was mostly fun and light-hearted like what one is supposed
to come to expect of FD's... there are exceptions to the others but it wasn't too bad
its just for some it felt there was little effort put into the scenario.
If you are familiar with sangoku rensenki's FD... its a lot like that! you get a short story
with the couple which is around 1 hour at most with two CG's for each
the content varies depending on the character though. Much like the original TaiAli
the further you get into the episodes the drearier it gets, like the boys from ep1 are fun
but then you get to Kaguya and it just goes downhill, Gretel was still OK for some reason.
The new routes for Ryoushi and Ookami aren't exactly new route just their POV of the whole
thing with Alistair much of what we already know! since they force the canon
so much their endings aren't exactly what one would like to see.
Can't recommend their routes unless you want a different perspective of the story we already know.

Overall its still a decent FD but only get it if you desperately need more Taiali in your life
there's just some parts that make me say: but why? like why even give Ookami a route if
you're going to make it end up like that... his whole character turned out to be a laughing stock.😓
To be fair... after being done with this FD the only thing I really like about Taishou x Alice is the
story of 'Alice', comedy and meta. As an otome game I think it doesn't really work that well like
half of the cast is essentially the same person, different personality and in the end only one matters.
Tai Ali has a great story&chara's and I whole-heartedly recommend the games
but as an otome game; by the end it leaves to be desired no matter how well written it was.

Well whatever I'll try to write some thoughts down below as usual, don't read it
if you don't want spoils etc (not like there is much).